The Excellent Care for All Act, 2010, introduced last year by The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, is driving hospital boards to change their Executive compensation models.

As was highlighted in The Sun Times a few days ago, look no further than the Grey Bruce Health Services as a great example of an organization that has responded to the Act by linking Executive compensation to quality targets.

In an effort to improve the overall patient experience, the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre in Newmarket, Ontario, recently became the first Cancer Centre in the province to introduce an integrated symptom and registration kiosk for patients receiving cancer treatment.

The PatientWay Kiosk enables the Cancer Centre’s patients to enter a record of their symptoms at the same time as they register for their scheduled appointment. While patient registration and check-in kiosks have been widely used in other facilities for a number of years, the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre will be the first to offer integrated check-in and symptom assessment apps. The new kiosk will:

Barbara Ficarra from Heath in 30 has just published a fantastic post on how social media is now being used by everyone from patients to hospitals.

And why not!

It’s no secret that most patients are now on the web asking questions to Dr. Google, and the business case for engaging patients online (for things like prescription renewals and chronic disease management) is becoming clearer. After all, patients are the most under-utilized resource in healthcare. Using social media can help turn patients into active partners.